Housepets: The Housepet Games
by ViolentFluffernutter
Summary: Peanut and Grape invite Tarot and some other friends over to play pretend again. This time, Max wants to reenact a new book he's found called "The Hunger Games." What hijinks will ensue? Who will emerge the victor? I'm going to keep the violence as tame as I can here. No blood, no corpses, no nuthin' like that. Rated "T" just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Grape, I'm BOOOOOOOORED!" Peanut whined. He was hanging upside down off of the couch, his head resting on the floor. A Wii-Remote dangled from one hand, and the other held a comic book.

"You just got that new game!" Grape said in annoyance, lifting her face from her pillow. "I thought Smashing Super Brawlers, or whatever it's called, was going to be the best game ever!"

"It IS the best game ever," Peanut replied. "But now I'm BOOOOOOORED!"

"Well, go be BOOOOOOORED somewhere else!" the cat snapped. "I'm trying to sleep!"

Before she could plant her face in the pillow again, she suddenly found Peanut directly in front of her.

"Let's play pretend!" he exclaimed.

"Later, Peanut!" Grape argued, her ears lying flat against her head in anger. "I'm trying to take a nap!"

Once again, she tried to rest her head again, but found that Peanut had swiped her pillow.

"Hey, give that back!" she yelled, reluctantly getting up.

"Okay, if you insist!" Peanut said with a sly grin before whacking her with it with all his might.

"You jerk!" Grape howled, rubbing her head. "That actually hurt!"

Peanut laughed and wound up to strike her again, but the purple cat had had enough. With a savage war cry, she tackled Peanut to the floor. Wrangling the pillow from his paws, she began to beat him with it.

"Okay, okay!" Peanut yelled after a few good pillow-punches. "I give up! Uncle!"

Glowering at the pesky pooch, Grape reluctantly stopped her feathery assault on his face and stood up.

"Now can we play pretend?" Peanut asked, his tail wagging.

Grape growled in annoyance and rolled her eyes, "Oh, FINE! You've got me too worked up to fall asleep now anyway!"

"Yay!" Peanut yelled, leaping to his feet just as the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!"

Grape followed him to the front door, where Tarot, Bino, Fox, King, and Max were standing.

"I foresaw that you were going to call us over to play pretend," Tarot said.

"Awesome!" Peanut shouted, fistpumping the air. Turning, he led them into their living room.

Grape leaned down to murmur into Tarot's ear, "Um, not that I'm upset that you invited yourself over or anything, but why did you bring Bino with you?"

A sly grin appeared on Tarot's face, "Trust me, you'll enjoy this," she promised with a wink.

"All right, what are we going to play?" Peanut asked, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Pridelands book 4!" Grape asserted. "We're going through the whole series, remember?"

"I don't wanna play no stupid cat story!" Bino spat.

"How about we play MY FIST IN YOUR UGLY FACE?" Grape shot back.

"Actually, I was wanting to break away from that game for a while too," Max put in. "I just found an awesome new book, and I wanted to try it out!"

"What book is it?" Peanut asked.

Max reached behind him and produced a paperback from… where, Grape wondered? He sat it on the ground so all of them could see. It had a black cover, with an image of a golden bird with a ring around it. "The Hunger Games," the title boldly proclaimed.

"I've heard about that book!" Grape piped up. "Everyone says it's really good!"

"Why would you want to play a game about being hungry?" Fox asked. "That doesn't sound fun at all."

"That's not what it's about," Max explained, fighting off the urge to make a snarky remark. "It's a story about a bunch of kids who are forced to fight each other to death while the rest of the world watches."

"That's horrible!" Fox protested, standing up. "That's even worse than being hungry!"

"I have to agree," Tarot put in. "I'm not sure the spirits will like me putting something that violent into our minds."

Grape grimaced. For once, she agreed with the dogs. A bunch of kids being forced to kill each other didn't sound like very much fun at all.

"Leave it to a cat to pick out a book like that!" Bino said, crossing his arms in smug anger.

Then again, maybe it would be worth it just to be able to murder Bino…

"Okay, I'm in!" the purple cat exclaimed.

"Me too!" Peanut exclaimed.

"All right," Fox said, uncertainly. "I guess if we keep to the rules, it won't be THAT bad…"

"Sounds like it could be fun," King chimed in, speaking for the first time since he'd arrived.

All eyes turned to Bino, who glared at them each in turn, "All right, fine!" he agreed at last. "But just so that I can see you all cry when I win!"

Everyone turned to Tarot for the final decision, since she was the one with the magic powers.

"Well…" she said, twiddling her fingers indecisively, "okay, but we need to set some rules. First off, I don't want to make any of us feel pain. When you get beaten, I'll just put you back in the real world. And secondly, no blood."

Max shrugged, "Sounds fine to me."

Grape picked up the book and scanned the blurb on the back, "I don't think we have enough people to play with, though," she said.

"It's better that way," Max insisted. "If we had twenty four contestants it would take too long to finish. "Let's skip the opening part. That way we can just go straight to the Hunger Games themselves."

"So, all we have to do is kill each other?" Fox asked, still looking uneasy about the whole thing.

"We'll all be put in the arena at the same time," Max explained. "You'll be on a pedestal right next to a giant cone. There will be a timer. If you step off the pedestal before the timer reaches zero, you get blown up by landmines."

"What's the cone for?" Peanut asked.

"There will be weapons in it," Max went on. "Swords, axes, bows, that sort of thing. There will also be supplies, like food, and things that can help you survive in the arena."

"Is there anything else we need to know?" King asked.

"Yeah," Max answered, a sadistic grin rising on his face, "stay out of my way!"

"Enough talking!" Peanut shouted, "let's play!"

With that, all of the pets closed their eyes, and allowed Tarot to pull them into another world.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was dark.

At first, Peanut thought that something had gone wrong and he'd been left out of Tarot's spell. Just as he was about to call out, though, the floor lurched beneath his feet, and he felt himself slowly begin to rise.

An elevator! He thought to himself with excitement. It's normally not this cool, but here it is AWESOME!

Slowly, he was raised into the open. The sun shined down brightly from above, revealing that he was in a forest. Just as Max had promised, there was a giant cone in front of him. It was shaped like one of those Thanksgiving things. He looked around, and saw that his friends had come up out of the ground as well.

Not my friends now, he thought with excitement. My opponents!

A counter appeared on the giant cone, and Tarot's voice rang out, counting along with it.

"10… 9… 8… 7…"

Peanut quickly scanned the area. The obvious thing to do would be to run straight to the giant cone and grab whatever he could find. Then again, that's probably what everyone else was going to do, too. King might not be too hard to take out, but Fox and Grape would undoubtedly be more of a challenge. Who even knew what Tarot was capable of? A more sensible option would be to run into the forest and create distance.

Nah, that was too boring!

"3… 2… 1… GO!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Peanut took off running towards the giant cone. From his peripheral vision, he saw King turn and dash into the forest. Bino did the same in the opposite direction. He couldn't see the others from here, but he assumed that they must be…

"OOF!" he grunted as Max tackled him from behind.

"Bad move, Dog Breath!" he cackled as he raised a knife above his head.

Before Peanut knew what was going on, though, a purple streak had tackled Max off of him.

"Run, Peanut!" she shouted, holding her boyfriend to the ground. She had a wickedly sharp sword strapped to her back.

"Grape, that's not how the game works!" Peanut shouted in confusion.

"Duh, but I don't want it to end too soon!" Grape shouted back. "Now run!"

But Peanut didn't want to leave without taking SOMETHING from the big shiny cone. Getting to his feet, he scrambled around until he found an enticing looking battle axe lying only a few feet away from him. Grabbing it, he finally obeyed Grape and took off into the forest, giggling madly.

"Get off me, babe!" Max shouted. "I don't want to hurt you!"

With a sly grin, Grape let go of her boyfriend and took a few steps back, "What do you say we form an alliance?" she asked.

Max got back to his feet, coughing softly and rubbing his neck where Grape had been grabbing him, "What makes you think I need your help?" he asked.

"The fact that you just got pinned by a girl," Grape answered. "And that that girl is still here." She reached back and drew her sword threateningly.

Max's eyes widened in fear, and he glanced down at his puny knife. With a grin to hide his terror, he hid the knife behind his back, "Okay, welcome to the team!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

King was running through the forest as fast as his tiny legs would carry him.

_Stupid little dog body,_ he growled inside his head. _Why couldn't that stupid bird turn me into a Rottweiler or something?_

But he didn't stop. Glancing over his shoulder, he could only just make out the cornucopia in the distance. His heart began to beat faster with fear. Where was everybody? They could be anywhere in this forest. Ready to jump out and stick a sword though his…

"Raaaaugh!" someone cried, springing out from behind a tree.

"Aaah!" King screamed, unable to stop himself from barreling straight into his attacker. He knocked them both over, and they rolled across the ground for a few feet before coming to a rest.

"Oh, King, it's you!" Fox exclaimed. In his hand, he held a spear that was taller than he was.

"Fox?" King asked, springing to his feet. "You're coming after _me?!_"

"Not intentionally," Fox explained. "I just heard you coming."

King glanced around, desperately searching for something to fend the larger dog off with.

"Hmm…" Fox murmured. "I've got an idea! How about you and I work together to beat the others?"

"What good will that do?" King demanded. "We'll still have to fight each other eventually."

"We can worry about that when we get to it," Fox said. "For now, all I know is that we'll both be a lot better off if we work together."

King considered this. Fox was right, he realized. With his diminutive size, not to mention his lack of a weapon, King was at a great disadvantage.

"All right," he agreed.

"Cool!" Fox exclaimed, clapping his friend on the back. "Let's go hunt some losers!"

As the two of them walked, Fox continued to talk, "You know, I'm enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. This is exciting!"

"You don't happen to have anything else on you that I can fight with, do you?" King asked.

"Well, I've got this," Fox pulled out a curved knife. It was short in the larger dog's hands, but in King's paws it was the size of a sword.

"Sure, that'll work," King agreed, taking a couple of practice swings with it.

"Now we're talking!" Fox whooped in exhilaration. "Let's go win this thing!"

As they continued walking, though, King couldn't stop one last dark thought creeping through his mind.

_But there can only be one winner…_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Bino crept through the forest, his paws silent against the dense undergrowth. He hadn't been able to pass police academy with Fido, but he'd still come away with a few useful skills. He held his bow at the ready in one paw, his other paw hovering over his shoulder, ready to draw an arrow at a moment's notice.

He grinned with sadistic pleasure. Those idiots had no idea who they were dealing with. They might as well just give up now.

A faint noise came from the distance. Bino froze, cocking his head to the side. Pawsteps, and they were coming in his general direction. They belonged to a small dog, too, if he was right. So, it was either King or Peanut's freaky girlfriend. Frankly, he didn't care which. Killing either of them would be fun.

Bino skillfully drew and arrow an knocked it before stealthily making his way towards the noise. Every few steps, he paused and listened to judge the other dog's position. Finally, put his back to a nearby tree and peeked his head around.

The Pomeranian came into view, not even thirty feet away. She was unarmed. Probably because she was too scared to take anything from the big cone. And best of all, she was completely unaware of his presence. He didn't move, though. He was savoring the moment.

A cry came from the distance, and Tarot's ears perked up. She turned to face the direction the sound had come from, effectively putting her back to Bino. Bino grinned, knowing his moment had come. He spun around, coming out from behind the tree, and pulled the arrow back in his bow. Tarot heard him and turned just in time to see him release the arrow. It shot through the air with a high pitched whistle before striking the little dog square in the chest. With a gasp of fright, if not some pain, Tarot staggered back a few steps before falling to the ground.

"Ha, gotcha you stupid little runt!" Bino cackled, doing an impromptu jig of victory.

Then, before his eyes, Tarot's body dissipated into a cloud of smoke, leaving nothing behind. Bino blinked in surprise. In the distance, a loud boom rang out, and Tarot's face appeared in the sky, the word "Deceased" underneath it. Bino grinned and clenched his fist in eager anticipation of meeting the other players.

This game was as good as his!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Peanut came to a stop after running for nearly five whole minutes. He leaned against a nearby tree to catch his breath, but he couldn't stop grinning. This was so AWESOME!

BOOM!

The cannon went off in the distance, and Peanut looked up to see his girlfriend's face hovering in the sky. He creased his eyebrows in concern. She'd already been beaten? He had been expecting her to win, what with her super-future-vision, and whatnot. But then his grin returned. Of course, it would have been impossible for her to win, because HE was going to win! She probably just let herself lose to be fair, anyway.

"Did you happen to grab any food?" someone asked in the distance. "I'm getting kinda hungry."

Peanut froze. Somebody was there! What did he do now? A full frontal assault? An ambush?

"No, I didn't manage to get anything out of the cornucopia," another voice answered. "I just ran away as fast as I could."

"Bummer," the first one said as he crested a nearby hill.

It was Fox, Peanut realized! And King was there with him, too. That was weird, weren't they supposed to be killing each other? Oh well, it didn't matter, the pup decided as he raised his battle axe over his head and charged at the pair with a screaming war cry.

"What the?" Fox exclaimed as Peanut came running at him. Peanut swung his axe down, but the gray dog raised his spear and blocked the attack at the last moment. He thrust out, pushing Peanut away from him.

"It's Peanut!" King shouted, holding his knife out in fear.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him!" Fox promised, an excited gleam coming into his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Peanut screamed again, and swung his axe a second time, which Fox nimbly dodged.

"Is that supposed to be scary?" Fox asked. "You sound like Grape when the vet gives her a shot!"

Peanut paused, his eyes growing wide with disbelief, "You take that back!" he shouted at last, taking another wild swing at his opponent. Fox blocked the attack with his spear once again. Twirling the weapon skillfully, he pulled Peanut's axe right out of his hands.

"Hey, no fair!" Peanut shouted. "Give that back!"

"Doesn't matter either way," Fox replied. "You obviously have no idea how to use that thing."

With that, he struck out, using the butt of the spear to knock Peanut's feet out from under him. Peanut hit the ground hard with an "oof!" Above him, Fox raised the spear to end the fight.

"It's nothing personal, Peanut," he said, though his expression betrayed how little remorse he felt for this. "I just really want to win!"

Peanut's hands scrambled madly in the dirt, searching for something to use against his opponent. His fist closed around a rock. It was the size of his hand, and moderately heavy.

"Yeah?" Peanut asked. "Well, me too!"

Before Fox could react, Peanut threw the rock at him as hard as he could. His aim was true, and the stone struck Fox directly in the noggin with a cartoonish "BONK!" Fox dropped the spear and staggered backwards, a dazed expression on his face.

"Yes, Granny, I would LOVE another rainbow bubble sandwich!" he babbled to himself before collapsing to the ground and vanishing in a puff of smoke. BOOM, went the cannon, and Fox's face appeared in the sky.

Giggling with excitement, Peanut picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off before remembering that King was still there. The little corgi was staring at the bigger dog in horror, his knife held loosely at his side. A sly grin crept across Peanut's face.

"Boo!" he yelled, taking a dramatic step towards him.

With a yelp of fright, King turned and retreated into the forest.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

King had no idea where he was going as he ran from Peanut. This was bad. He'd already lost his partner, and there were still four other players besides him. His chances weren't looking good.

_Calm down,_ he told himself. _It's just a game, right? Peanut didn't actually kill Fox!"_

To his dismay, this did little to calm his nerves. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins, dulling his senses and telling him to run. He was so desperate to get SOMEWHERE that he nearly ran right out into a small clearing. He realized what he was seeing just in time, though, and skidded to a halt. Good thing too, he realized, because there was Max, waiting for someone to venture stupidly out into the open. He had a knife in one hand, held by the blade, ready to be thrown.

King dropped to the ground before Max could see him. His body trembled with fright. It's just a game, he reminded himself. It's just a stupid game! He chanced a look up, and saw that Max still hadn't seen him. He stayed that way for a few moments, a plan slowly forming in his head.

There were plenty of trees and bushes surrounding the clearing. If King could stay low, he could probably use it to sneak around Max without being detected. In this case, his tiny stature would actually come in handy! Having no other option, King began to crawl across the ground on his belly. It took several minutes, and he constantly forced himself to stop to make sure Max hadn't caught wind of him, but eventually he managed to get behind Max's back. But just as he was about to stand up and take off again, another idea popped into his head. He glanced down at his knife, and then back at Max. The cat was still staring off in the other direction, completely oblivious to King's presence.

Instead of getting up, King altered his course and began crawling towards Max. He went even slower this time, pausing every few seconds to make sure the cat didn't catch his scent. When he was within arm's reach, he slowly stood up, his whole body trembling. His breath caught in his throat, creating a soft hiccupping sound.

"What the carp?" Max exclaimed, spinning around.

King didn't give the cat time to react. He raised his knife and drove it into Max's chest as hard as he could. Eyes wide with shock, Max stumbled backwards before falling onto his rump.

"You?" he choked. "No way!"

With that, he fell to his back and vanished in a cloud of smoke, just as Fox had. For over a minute, King could only stand there, hardly able to believe that he was still alive. Finally, he regained his senses and stepped forward to retrieve his knife. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out better than he'd thought!

The sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard caused him to spin around in fright. There stood Grape, holding her weapon towards him, ready to put it to use.

"My name is Grape Jelly Sandwich," she said, a fearsome gleam in her eye. "You killed my boyfriend. Prepare to die!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Grape sheathed her sword as King vanished in a cloud of smoke. She couldn't say she was happy about that part. The vanishing bodies took away from the realism of it all. Then again, what had she expected? Tarot had told them there would be no over-the-top violence.

The cannon boomed in the distance, displaying both Max and King's faces. She'd lost her partner, and that didn't make her happy either. Max may not have been as amazing as he'd claimed, but having him with her could only increase her odds of staying alive. Now there were only three players left: herself, Peanut, and Bino. Grape chuckled to herself. Who would have thought that the fleabrained Bino would make it this far?

As she set off into the forest once again, she began to wrack her brains for some sort of strategy. She'd seen Peanut run into the woods with a great big he probably had no idea how to use, but she had no idea what weapons Bino had on him- if anything. The best plan of action would be to…

A loud ruckus came from her right, and Grape spun around to face it, drawing her sword.

"AAAAAAH!" Peanut screamed, running at her from the trees, his axe held above his head.

"Peanut, wait!" Grape shouted, lowering her sword. The pup stopped midstep, looking at her expectantly.

"Let's form an alliance!" she said, smiling.

Peanut lowered his axe and looked at her in confusion, "Why?" he asked.

"Because you, me, and Bino are the only ones left," Grape answered. Her smile turned into a sadistic grin, "Wouldn't it be fun to take him down together?"

"Well, yeah," Peanut agreed. "But won't we still have to fight each other anyway?"

"That's the point, Peanut!" Grape explained. "If we take down Bino together, then no matter what happens, one of us will win. And we'll get to make a proper final battle out of it!"

"With lots of epicness?" Peanut exclaimed, tail wagging.

"Enough epic for you to choke on!" Grape confirmed, holding out her paw.

"Deal!" the pup agreed, grabbing her paw and shaking it vigorously.

"All right, then!" Grape said, turning and leading the way. "Let's go kill us a jerk!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Peanut couldn't keep himself from bouncing on the balls of his feet as he walked, humming a nonsensical little tune in anticipation of the upcoming fight.

"Quiet," Grape ordered. "He'll hear us coming."

Peanut bit his lip, forcing himself to shut up. This was the best game EVER! He and Grape were working together to kick Bino's butt! They needed to bring everyone over to do this again sometime!

"Wait," Grape whispered, holding up her paw. Peanut froze while the cat tipped her head up and sniffed the air. "He's close," she whispered.

"Where?" Peanut asked, his voice high pitched with excitement.

"HERE!" Bino's voice called to them, followed by a high pitched whistle. With a loud THUNK, an arrow embedded itself into a nearby tree, directly between the two of them.

"Hide!" Grape shouted, taking cover behind another tree. Peanut hastened to do the same as another arrow shot out, just barely missing the top of his head.

"What do we do?" he called to Grape.

"He's a got a bow, so he has the advantage right now," Grape answered. "We need to figure out how to get closer!"

But that would prove to be harder than they anticipated, because wherever Bino was, he'd managed to hide himself very skillfully. There was no sign of him beside the arrows that flew at them every time one of them poked their heads out of cover.

"It's no use," Grape said. "I have no idea where he is. We'll have to make a run for it!"

"But he'll shoot us!" Peanut protested.

"We'll have to fun fast," Grape insisted. "A moving target is harder to hit than a still one."

"Okay," Peanut agreed.

"One… Two… Three… Go!" Grape shouted, dashing out from behind her cover. Peanut followed her, and almost immediately felt an arrow graze the fur on his back. It didn't hurt him, but it was enough to spur the pup to run faster.

The two allies zigzagged through the trees, using whatever cover they could find. After only a minute, though, the arrows stopped coming.

"Grape, I think he gave up!" Peanut shouted.

"I'm not taking the chance, keep running!" Grape ordered.

They began to hear a dull roar in the distance. As they ran, it gradually grew louder. The smell of moisture filled the air.

"Stop!" Grape yelled suddenly, skidding to a halt and holding out an arm to stop Peanut. Before them, the ground dropped away in a sheer cliff. On the other side, a towering waterfall plunged hundreds of feet in a shower of mist and foam before crashing into a pool of rocky water at the bottom.

"What do we do now?" Peanut asked, having to raise his voice against the roar of the waterfall.

Grape glanced around in thought, "We go around it. If we can find a way to get to the bottom, we'll have fresh water to drink for however long we need it."

Peanut nodded his agreement, and the cat turned to go back a few steps. Before she could decide on the best route to take though, there was a rustle in the branches above her. Grape looked up just in time to see Bino leap out of the tree, landing nimble on the ground in front of her.

"Bino!" Peanut shouted in surprise.

Grape reacted like a warrior. She drew her sword and rushed at Bino. Backpedaling to create distance, Bino drew an arrow and sent it flying at her, but Grape ducked and rolled beneath it. This brought her within reach of the dog, so she swung her sword. Bino jumped nimbly over the blade, and then whacked Grape on the face with his bow. The impact sent her stumbling backwards, and she landed on her rump. Before she could get back up, Bino drew another arrow and loosed it.

"NO!" Peanut shouted, but all he could do was watch as the arrow flew the short distance between the two fighters, and struck Grape in the chest.

Suddenly, Peanut realized he wasn't having fun anymore. All the enjoyment he'd been feeling ever since the game had begun was gone. Suddenly, none of this was a game anymore. In a numb state of panic, he dashed forward just in time to catch Grape's head before it hit the ground.

"Grape!" he yelled, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Peanut?" she asked in a weak voice.

"I'm here, Grape," the dog answered. "It's going to be okay!"

"I'm out, Peanut," she replied, her voice growing weaker. "I lose."

"No, no," Peanut begged her. "Don't go!"

"It's okay, Peanut," the cat whispered. "It's just a game."

With that, Grape closed her eyes and dissolved into a cloud of smoke, leaving Peanut holding nothing but air.

"What a touching moment," Bino sneered. "I always knew you were a cat lover!"

Suddenly, Peanut was filled with rage. Anger flooded his mind, blocking out reasoning and rational thought. He looked up at Bino, standing there with that smug grin on his face, and bared his teeth.

"You son of a flea…" he growled, slowly rising to his feet. "That was my sister!"

Bino smiled, pleased with the reaction he had gotten, "Don't worry, you'll be joining her soon enough!"

With that, he reached behind him to grab another arrow, but his paw closed only on air. His eyes grew wide, and he looked behind him to see that his quiver was completely out of arrows. He turned to look at Peanut again, but this time there was a trace of fear.

"AAAAAAAH!" Peanut screamed, but this time it was not the comical shout of a pup having fun, it was the enraged battle cry of someone who had just lost their closest and dearest friend. Pulling his arm back, Peanut threw his battle axe at Bino with all his might. It sailed through the air like a Frisbee, slicing straight through Bino's bow like a knife through hot butter. Bino's jaw fell open, and he dropped the half of his bow that he still held. And then he ran.

"Get back here!" Peanut shouted, giving chase. Bino was fast, though, and it was obvious that he would be able to outrun Peanut eventually. It was going to be all right, he told himself. He'd lose Peanut, make his way back to the big shiny cone, and find another weapon. He was NOT going to-

Suddenly, he stopped running, skidding across the forest floor and coming to a rest just in time to avoid plummeting over the edge of the cliff. In his fear, he'd inadvertently climbed to the very top of the waterfall. He turned around and saw Peanut standing behind him, blocking his means of escape.

"Peanut, buddy!" the cowardly dog said, raising his paws in surrender. "You're not going to kill me… are you?"

"You killed Grape," Peanut growled, advancinig on him.

Yeah, but… hey, I'm sorry for calling you a cat lover!" Bino stammered. "I didn't mean it. It was just a joke."

Peanut didn't reply, but kept coming towards him.

"Hey, listen, if you don't kill me, I'll let you back into the Good Ol' Dogs Club, okay?"

Peanut was now within arms reach, and the pup lashed out and grabbed ahold of Bino's chest fur.

"Peanut, please!" Bino begged him. "It's a game, remember? It's all just a game!"

Peanut pulled the coward closer to him, and said in a low, menacing voice, "Yeah, and you just lost."

With that, Peanut shoved Bino with all his might, sending him over the edge of the cliff. Bino let out a scream of terror, which lasted for several seconds before it was abruptly cut off.

The cannon boomed in the distance, and Bino's face appeared in the sky, confirming that was deceased. Then a lively tune began to play. Fireworks shot into the sky, and Peanut's grinning face appeared.

"Congratulations!" Tarot's voice rang out. "You have won the Hunger Games!"

Unlike his image in the sky, though, a smile did not appear on Peanut's face. Instead, he simply stood where he was, his gaze lowered, until the world began to fade around him, bringing him back to reality once more.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"That was awesome!" Grape exclaimed as she opened her eyes, finding herself and her friends in her living room once again. "Best game ever!"  
"I can't believe I got killed by a toy breed," Max grumbled, pouting.  
"Oh, shut up!" Bino spat, turning his back on the others out of spite.  
"Remind me never to play pretend with you guys again," King said, still shivering with fright.  
"I've got to admit," Fox said, "that was a lot more fun that I thought it would be- even if I didn't win."  
"That's because Peanut won!" Grape whooped. "Three cheers for our champion!"  
But before they could celebrate his victory, Peanut stood up, without a word, and left the room.  
"Peanut?" Grape called after him. "Where are you going?"  
Peanut didn't respond, but she heard his bedroom door slam shut.  
"What's wrong with him?" the cat asked, turning to look at the rest of the group.  
"Stupid mutt," Bino grumbled. "He won the game, and now he thinks he's too good for us."  
"He seemed a bit upset at the end of the game, didn't he?" Fox suggested, thumping Bino on the back of the head.  
"Yeah, but why would he be?" Grape asked. "I mean, he won the game!"  
"You need to go talk to him," Tarot said, standing up.  
"About what? I thought he was having a great time!"  
Tarot sighed, "I think we got carried away, Grape," she said. "You don't understand just how big an impact that game had on him."  
Before Grape could question her again, Tarot turned and ushered the other pets out of the house before turning and giving the cat one last meaningful look.  
Now alone in her living room, Grape sighed and made her way to Peanut's room. What did the silly pup have to get upset about? She was happy, and she hadn't even won!  
"Peanut?" she called, knocking on his door. There was no response, but she could hear Weird Al playing on the other side. Grape rolled her eyes. She could never understand the spoof artist's appeal, but he was like a musical therapist for Peanut. What's more, he never played him unless he was really upset. Reaching out, Grape opened the door.  
"Because I'm fat, I'm fat, ham on, really really fat!" the CD sang. Peanut was sitting on the edge of his bed, his back to the door, staring at the floor. If he was aware that Grape had come in, he didn't show it.  
"Peanut?" Grape asked, sitting down next to him. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing's wrong," Peanut said, "I'm just tired after playing that game."  
"Come on," Grape insisted, "you can't hide it from me! Just tell me what's bothering you."  
Peanut looked up at Grape, and for the first time she noticed that his eyes were bloodshot, as if he'd been crying.  
"I- I couldn't take it," Peanut said, his voice choking up.  
"What couldn't you take?" Grape asked.  
"Bino shooting you with that arrow."  
Grape gave a quick laugh, "Is that all? Peanut, that was the point of the whole game! Last one alive wins, remember?"  
"I know," Peanut nodded, "but when it actually happened, I… It hurt, Grape."  
Grape eyed the dog curiously, "What hurt?"  
"Seeing you die," Peanut answered, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "I saw an arrow go through your heart, and there was nothing I could do to save you. I know it wasn't real, but it LOOKED real, and all I could think about was… was…" His voice trailed off, and he looked the other direction.  
"All you could think was what?" Grape encouraged him.  
Peanut turned back to look at her, and now she could see that he WAS crying. Rivers of tears trailed down his cheeks, staining his light brown fur.  
"That I had actually lost you," he answered.  
Before Grape could respond, Peanut had thrown his arms around her, hugging her to him in a tight embrace.  
"Grape," he said, his voice muffled by his face being pressed into her shoulder, "if I lost you, I don't know what I would do. You're the best friend I've ever had. More than that, you're my sister! If you were to die, I… I…"  
Grape could feel tears stinging her own eyes now, and she gratefully returned the hug, "Peanut, Peanut, Peanut," she said soothingly, stroking the back of his head the way she knew he liked. "You have no idea how much that means to me."  
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you in there," Peanut said, raising his head to look at her.  
"It's not your fault, silly pup!" Grape chuckled. "I should have been paying more attention. But for what it's worth, thank you."  
"For what?" Peanut asked in confusion.  
"For getting revenge on Bino for me!" Grape exclaimed, jumping up from the bed. "I saw the whole thing. You were AWESOME!" Grape began reenacting the scene for him, doing horrible impressions of his and Bino's voices.  
"Ooh, please, Peanut! Don't kill me! You're so big and strong and I'm so stupid!"  
"You killed my sister, you son of a flea!"  
"But it's just a game!"  
"Yes, and you lose!"  
With that Grape fell over backwards with a comical scream before breaking down into manic laughter. When she looked up, she was pleased to see that Peanut was smiling again.  
"We need to do this again sometime!" she suggested, getting to her feet. "We can bring Sabrina, Fido, and all the Mr. Bigglesworths over!"  
Peanut sighed, but the smile did not leave his face, "I think I'm going to have to pass on that," he said.  
"Why?" Grape asked. "You're not still upset, are you?"  
"No, it's not that," Peanut answered, fishing for something under his pillow. "I just thought of an even better game we could play!"  
"Yeah, what's that?" Grape asked.  
"This," Peanut pulled a DVD box out from under his pillow and handed it to her.  
"The Matrix, huh?" Grape mused. "Looks interesting…"

To Be Continued?

Did you like this story?

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www. Bolanderbooks .com


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